The surviving members of the Cars are reportedly working on a new album, using studio recordings left behind by frontman Ric Ocasek, who died in 2019.
The news comes from Bill Janovitz's comprehensive new book The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told, which features contributions from all three surviving members of the band – guitarist Elliot Easton, drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Greg Hawkes. (Bassist and singer Benjamin Orr died in 2000.)
In the final chapter, Janovitz reveals that a few years ago Hawkes was sent over two dozen tracks which had been collected by a close associate of Ocasek's. A song named "I Just Can't Stay" features both Orr and Ocasek on vocals, and dates back to their pre-Cars time together.
After working on the tracks a bit with producer Ed Valauskas and engineer Joel Edinberg, Hawkes brought Robinson and Easton into the project. Elliot reportedly began adding guitar parts in August of 2024, beginning with "I Just Can't Stay" and "Can't Stop the Rain."
"Elliot's twenty-five second solo on 'Can't Stop the Rain' is sure to put smiles on the faces of fans, as it did for me," Janovitz notes. "And he added a hook that runs through the song, completely transforming it from the version I heard months before. 'There,' I thought. 'Along with Greg's synth part, that's how the band took Ric's demos and turned them into Cars songs.'"
Other song titles mentioned included "The Factory" and "One by One," which was reportedly the last track Ocasek was working on. Two others, "Crossing the Line" and "Crazy Over You," are suspected to have been part of a jazz-influenced album the singer was working on at one point.
Although no plans for the release of the material have been announced, the book notes that the surviving band members and the estates of Orr and Ocasek "were all optimistic that disagreements about Cars business would not get in the way of giving their fans unheard Cars music."
Read More: The Cars' Genre-Defying First Album – Track by Track
The Cars originally broke up in 1988, following a brief tour in support of 1987's Door to Door album. In 2011 the surviving four members reunited for 2011's Move Like This. They disbanded again following the promotional cycle for that album, reuniting only for their 2018 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told, which delves deeply into each album and era of the band's career, is available everywhere now.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso

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